Abolphe segay



Patented Mar. 15, 1927.

ADOLPHE SEGAY, 0F MONTROUGE, FRANCE.

EXPLOSIVE.

No Drawing. Application filed April 80, 1923, Serial No. 635 ,785, and. in Belgium May 26, 1922.

This invention relates to explosives and particularly to explosives having among their constituents a nitro body, ammonium nitrate, ammonium perchlorate, and paraifin, or a like waxy substance; it has for its object improvements in explosives of this type.

It is known that the use of these kind of explosives are considerably restricted owing to their marked hygroscopic properties, which render ahnost impossible in practice their use in damp places, even with particular precautions. In such cases, the use of dynamite is compulsory, in spite of its various drawbacks.

Concerning dynamites the basis of which is ammonium nitrate, the protection against water, provided by the nitroglycerine may even become insuflicient, and it has been proposed to treat the ammonium nitrate with paraflin before incorporating it with the nitroglycerineand the other constituents of the explosive. On the other hand, this addition of parafiin considerably diminishes the ability to detonate, and absorbs a large portion of the oxygen of the nitrate, so that the paraffin treatment does not seem to have been used in practice beyond the explosives containing nitroglycerine.

According to this invention, I provide an explosive not containing nitroglycerine, con- Y stituted by ammonium nitrate and potassium perchlorate or an alkali metal perchlorate treated with a sufficient quantity of paraffin or the like to protect them with eiiectiveness against damp together with a metallic substance.

The quantity of parafiin incorporated with the nitrate is of the'order 3per cent of the latter, but it can be increased or diminished according to the applications to which the explosive is' intended. The quantity of ammonium perchlorate or alkali metal perchlorate is approximately sufficient (about 10%) to provide the oxygen required for the combustion of the paraffin, the perchlorate being also treated with paraffin. This addition of perchlorate is intended, on one hand, to provide a supplementary quantity of oxygen, and. on the other hand, to increase the capability to detonate. For the same purpose of obtaining an explosive sufficiently apt to detonate, one can also constitute the remaining combustible matter of a nitro-body explosive or nearly explosive of itself, such as tetryl, trinitrotoluene, dinitrobenzenc, trinit-ronaphthaline, and the like. It is also necessary to add a metallic substance evolving by combustion a large quantity of heat, such as aluminium, silicon or a ferro-silicon with a high percentage of silicon, silicides of calcium or of manganese or the like, or mixtures of these metals. This enumeration is not intendedto exhaust the list of suitable substances and other metallic products or compounds could also be added.

On the other hand, the nitro body could be replaced by another organic substance, such as sawdust. One could even, notably in the case of the more easily inflammable metals such as aluminium, do away entirely with the nitro body or the substituted organic substance.

The addition of metallic substances has a double purpose, first to increase the force of the explosive and then to sensitize it as may be required, owing to the simultaneous presence of perchlorates. In the case where the quantity of perchlorate which has been mentioned (10 to 15%) would give rise to a too great sensitiveness in the presence of certain metals, one could diminish the sensitiveness in replacing a portion of the perchlorate by a corresponding quantity of alkali metal nitrate, which introduces also a large quantity of oxygen without increasingthe sensitiveness.

In order to avoid having too sensitive mixtures at, any manufacturing stage, it is advisable to perform the paraffin treatment of the mixture of ammonium nitrateand of perchlorate before the addition of the other constituents. 1

Instead of paraffin, one may also use any other analogous waxy substance and the proportion is not restricted to the amount mentioned.

As an example of these explosive compounds, the following may be mentioned Per cent.

On test with the Trauzl block, this explosive gives a force 'co-eflicient of 124:, p1cr1c acid being 100 and gelignite having a co-efiicicnt of 122.. It explodes easily with a. detonator No. 3. Y

Ha certaine the natureof my-said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is:

1. An explosive composition comprising ammonium nitrate coated with a waxy substance, constituting the. base of the product, I

an alkali-metal perchlorate similarly coated,

and a metallic substance the combustion of which gives out a large amount of heat V 2. An. explosive composition compnsm'g ammonium nitrate coated with a waxy substance of high melting point constituting the base of the product, an alkali-metalperchlorate similarly coated, anda 'metallic sub stance the combustion of which gives out 'a large amount of heat. e 1

3. -An explosive composition comprising ammonium nitrate coated with parafiin constituting the base ofthe product, an alkalimetal perchlorate similarly coated, and a metallic substance the combustion of which gives out a. largeamount of heat.

4. An explosive composition comprlsmg ammonium nitrate coated with a Waxy substance constituting the base of the product,

potassium perchlorate similarly coated, and

a metallic substance the combustion of which gives out a large amount of heat.

7 and a mixture of silicide of calcium, and of; aluminium, the combustlon of Whlch gives.

5. An explosive composition comprising ammomum nitrate coated with a waxy substance, constituting the base of the product,

an alkali-metalperchlorate similarly coated,

out a large amount of heat. 2.

6. An explosive composition' comprising ammonium nitrate coated with a waxy substance, constituting the base of the product, an alkali-metal perchlorate similarly coated,

' a metallic substance and silicide of calcium,

the combustion of which gi'vesfout a large amount of heat.

7. An explosive composition comprising ammonium nitrate coated with a waxy substance, constituting the basepf the product, an alkali-metal perchlorate slmilarly coated,

now particularly described and a'sstance, the .combustion of which ametallic substance and analloy of silicon, the combustion of which gives out alarge amount of heat.

8. An explosive composition comprising ammonium nitrate. coated with a waxy-substance, constituting the base of the product,

an alkali-metal perchlorate and an alkaline nitrate similarly coated, andametallic subgives out a large amount of heat.

9. An explosive composition comprising ammonium nitrate coated with a waxy substance, constituting the base of the product, an; alkali-metal perchlorate similarly coated,

"a nitro body, and, a metallic substance, the

combustion of which, gives out a 'large amount of heat.

10. An explosive composition comprising ammonium nitrate coated with a waxy substance, constituting the base of the product,

an alkali-metal perchlorate similarly coated,

an. organic substance, and a metallic substance, the combustion large amount of heat. I

11. An explosive composition comprising ammonium nitrate coated with a waxysubstance, constituting the base of the product, an alkali perchlorate similarly coated, a nitro body, an organic substance, -and a metallic substance, the combustion of which gives out a large amount of heat.

of which gives out a 12.'A process for the manufacture of an explosive composition, the base of which is ADOLPHE ,SEGAY. 

